1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-receiving sheet used in combination with a heat transfer sheet including a dye layer containing a sublimable dye which is to be melted or sublimated by heat and passed onto said image-receiving sheet.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
In some attempts to make images, heat transfer sheets including a dye layer containing a sublimable dispersion dye are heated by a thermal head, and the like, in a dotted pattern corresponding to image signals, thereby passing the dye onto the surfaces of image-receiving sheets.
Such image-receiving sheets comprise a sheet-like substrate and a dye-receiving surface layer formed of polyester resin, and the like, for receiving a dye coming from the heat transfer sheets, thereby giving a clear printed image. A problem with such image-receiving sheets, however, is that although they are of dyeability so improved that distinct images can be obtained, they are poor in weather resistance, as can be appreciated from the discoloration, for example, of the images after printing.
In order to provide a solution to this problem, it has been attempted to improve weather resistance by making use of ultraviolet absorbers, and the like. Such an attempt, however, again poses several problems such as requiring the additional step of incorporating UV absorbers and the resulting cost rise.
The image-receiving sheets, set forth in Japanese Patent Kokai Application Nos. 59(1984)-223425 and 60(1985)-24996, use a vinyl chloride polymer as the dye-receiving layers but, nonetheless, are less than satisfactory in terms of light resistance. The present inventor has already attempted to improve light resistance by using a copolymer of vinyl chloride with an acrylic type monomer as a dye-receiving layer. However, the resulting image-receiving sheet is still less than satisfactory in terms of the improvement in light resistance.
A main object of the present invention is to provide an image-receiving sheet which is free from such drawbacks as mentioned above, and is much more improved in terms of dyeability and weather-resistance-after-printing than conventional ones.